Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Perfection!

A few thoughts on Roy Halladay‘s perfect game:

It’s the 20th perfect game in baseball history, which is only eight more men than have walked on the moon.

Good to see Halladay smile.

I’ve seen pitchers carry no-hitters into the seventh inning before and I’m like, “OK, somebody is going to get a hit here.” And somebody always does.” I only started to think Daisuke Matsuzaka would throw a no-hitter May 22 when Carlos Ruiz hit into a line drive double play in the eighth inning. Juan Castro hit a broken-bat flare into left field in the following at-bat. But there was a different feeling when Halladay carried a perfect game into the seventh. This is going to happen.Nobody is going to get on base here.

The Phillies have thrown one perfect game and one no-hitter since I started covering the Phillies. I’ve missed both. I started covering the Phillies for The Philadelphia Inquirer in April 2003. The first game I ever missed as a beat writer Kevin Millwood threw his no-hitter against the Giants at the Vet. I was flying to LA at the time because the Phillies opened a series the following night at Dodger Stadium. I remember getting into my rental car, finding the Dodgers game and hearing Vin Scully say, “And in Philadelphia, Kevin Millwood has a no-hitter through eight innings!” I almost drove my car off the road. And the Halladay perfect game? I typically get one road series off a month. Taking off this series made the most sense because it split up a three-city, nine-game trip. But at least I got to watch it while having an adult beverage or two over the holiday weekend.

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The Zo Zone is on Facebook and Twitter. His Phillies book “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” is available online, and at Delaware Valley bookstores!

It was good to see Roy smile BUT I even more appreciated the understated way he handled the achievement by crediting both Moyer’s suggestions and pitch calling by Ruiz instead of the Tiger Woods type of self promoting, in your face fist pump celebration. Nice to see a star athlete show class and humility, for a change, when reaching a milestone instead of the ” Hey, look at me” attitude.

You know? I wasn’t even nervous for Doc. I just KNEW it was going to happen. At least a n0-n0. You could tell from the very beginning of the game. He was ON!
I was at the game, in ’70, when Terry Mulholland pitched a no-hitter. He missed a perfect game because of an error by the 3rd baseman. But it was still pretty amazing to witness!

Great story — Babe Ruth was the starting pitcher in a game in 1908. He walked the first batter, argued the call, and was ejected. Ernie Shore came in got a double play on the guy Ruth had walked then retired the next 26 batters he faced. A combined no-hitter but not a perfect game. Baseball – the sport which keeps on giving even 100 years after an event.

norma: Mulholland’s game would have been a perfecto but for a rare Charlie Hayes error. Still…

Maybe (also) this will calm the folks who wonder how Roy will perform in the post-season. No more pressure than a 1-0 perfect game.
Not sure what pherris is going after, but we’ll just let him rant, which seems to be his speciality. 1908? I thought I was old school.

Moyer pitched great today and deserves better. He probably struck out two of the batters who got on in the inning when he gave up the run, but he got squeezed by the ump. Not that it matters when the offense puts up another 000 000 000. This is getting tiresome, especially going to Atlanta.

I share a story I ran across looking into no hitters and perfect games and some how I am ranting? Muleman do you realize how petty and foolish you sound? I would have said vindictive but I didn’t want you to have to consult Merriam-Webster. Oh, I forgot I am addressing muleman. Muleman for you edification Merriam-Webster is a dictionary. Edification? There I go again.

pherris: It’s so much fun to get under your skin because it’s so thin and easy to do. Bringing up an irrelevant story made me go back to Todd’s original post to see if I missed something. Of course, I didn’t. Stop insulting my intelligence. You have no idea who I am.

The Phillies are in a hitting slump of epic proportions. Nevertheless, they are a half a game out of first place. Does anyone actually believe there is a NL East team capable of displacing them over the long haul? The most irritating thing to me is that this is happening under the watch of “the hitting guru” Charlie Manual. Baseball history is replete with batting coaches who have left a string of .300 hitters in their wake. The same can be said for pitching coaches and 20 game winners. What is Charlie doing about the Phillies hitting situation?

Meanwhile, I’m going to be the bigger man (or, the only one) and declare a truce between myself and pherris, since I obviously bring out the worst (best) in him. I’m weary of his pointless drabble.

Since Charlie Manual [sic] is the manager and not the hitting coach I’d say he bears no responsibilty for any of their current woes. The team has a hitting coach.
I’ll stand by what I’ve said before about it being Memorial Day and how baseball history is replete with teams who were in first place then and out of contention by Labor Day. I seem to recall a similar comment declaring that they were 3.5 games ahead of everybody, and now I read that they are “a half game out of first place.” When exactly do we start to be concerned?

I suppose the solution today was to put Gload in right field and bat him leadoff. Meanwhile, he misplayed a ball that contributed to another woeful spectacle. And Blanton was throwing batting practice.
Since they’re capable of a string of shutout losses in May, who’s to say that they aren’t capable of a similar string in October? If you’re not concerned, you’re not paying attention.

As for the current offensive slump….just BIZARRE! Its one thing for them to lose a few games, but to have so many shut-outs is just odd. Also seems like to certain extent they can’t catch a break…many hard hits being caught all over the field. Maybe just maybe the string of doubles and the 3 runs scored is a starting point. LA said he pities the pitcher that happens to be on the mound when things turn around.

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